werderwayne
Posts: 45
Joined: 1/29/2003 Status: offline
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mogami [B]Hi the P-47 Thunderbolts dropped 132,482 tons of bombs, fired 59,567 rockets, and expended 135 million belts of machine gun ammunition. From D-Day to V-E Day in Europe, Thunderbolts destroyed 86,000 railway cars, 9000 locomotives, 6000 armored vehicles and tanks, and 68,000 trucks. By the end of the war, Thunderbolts had destroyed 2752 enemy aircraft in the air and 3315 on the ground. [/B][/QUOTE] Sorry it took me so ling to respond...I keep getting logged out of the board for some reason! The RAF (or so I have read) estimated that pilots overestimated their TANK kills by about a factor of ten. This was based on the location of claimed kills and when the area was taken by friendly troops, the number of dead tanks found. There are many reasons for this, not just bragging. Most damage done to a tank by a machine gun was an engine roof or vent hit, which would take the engine out, but it could be repaired and the tank would be towed off and fixed. Also, lots of dust is kicked up by the MG’s, making the tank look like it is smoking. Small fires could be started on the tank, which would also make it look as thought the tank is KO’ed. “Armored vehicles” include halftracks and armored cars, against which .50 cal’s would be much more effective. Did the Germans even HAVE 6000 AFV’s on the Western Front? :D -WW
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